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Description
Show: Pokemon
Episode: 551
Year: 2008

Writer(s): Atsuhiro Tomioka

One of the most common complaints the Pokémon anime receives is it's formulaic nature, literally every other episode is Ash and friends helping some random jackoff and then fighting Team Rocket which gets OLD! This is why, as bad as it was, I'm happy Best Wishes decided to occasionally give Team Rocket a break every now and again to keep them fresh. My biggest issue though comes from Ash and his whole negligence towards his Pokémon. Keep in mind there's a BIG BIG difference between being abusive and being negligent. 9/10 whenever Ash has a Pokémon battle of any sort he rarely if ever switches out Pokémon to prevent them from fainting and it kinda makes his whole friendship spiel extremely fake to me; I know he loves his Pokémon, but still.

Dont even get me started on Gym battles! Almost all of them follow this trend of Ash losing everything but Pikachu who miraculously sweeps everything and wins the match even going by type disadvantage. That's why the best ones buck this trend and give us a unique experience, whether it's anytime Charizard gets to fight it out or moments such as this. To my knowledge it's the only time in the series where Ash has never lost a single Pokémon in a gym battle LEGITIMATELY sweeping a Gym Leader! Yeah his whole battle with Wattson was fucking cheap as shit and he REALLY didn't deserve that badge most of all, which is why I'm glad Ash got a rematch where the jolly old gym leader kicked his ass!

It really does fell like Ash planned out this battle against Crasher Wake like an expert. He knew to use Pokémon that had the best type advantages and to use their attributes well against his opponent. He remembers Quagsire is also a Ground-Type and switches Pikachu out when he looks tired after fighting Wake's Gyarados and giving it a VOLT TACKLE TO THE FACE! And it'd thanks to this constant strategy that he beats Crasher Wake with almost no effort except near the end.

Honestly though, the best part of this battle is Ash's Buizel fighting Crasher's Floatzel. We've had examples of a Pokémon fighting it's evolved form before, but here they put in genuine effort not seen since "Electric Shock Showdown". I can truly feel Buizel's energy as he pushes against Floatzel's power, especially when it uses a combo of Bulk Up and Ice Fang! This battle really makes me believe Buizel never needs to evolve as he's got power on his own to prove it unnecessary. No to mention I ADORE CRASHER WAKE! This guy is one of my all-time favorite gym leaders! He just has such a great energy and heart to him that's are to match with his luchador motif and bombastic voice in the dub provided by David Brimmer, a highly underrated voice actor I might add.

Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company.

1001 Animations is from

Regulas314

Description
Show: Pokemon
Episode: 551
Year: 2008

Writer(s): Atsuhiro Tomioka

One of the most common complaints the Pokémon anime receives is it's formulaic nature, literally every other episode is Ash and friends helping some random jackoff and then fighting Team Rocket which gets OLD! This is why, as bad as it was, I'm happy Best Wishes decided to occasionally give Team Rocket a break every now and again to keep them fresh. My biggest issue though comes from Ash and his whole negligence towards his Pokémon. Keep in mind there's a BIG BIG difference between being abusive and being negligent. 9/10 whenever Ash has a Pokémon battle of any sort he rarely if ever switches out Pokémon to prevent them from fainting and it kinda makes his whole friendship spiel extremely fake to me; I know he loves his Pokémon, but still.

Dont even get me started on Gym battles! Almost all of them follow this trend of Ash losing everything but Pikachu who miraculously sweeps everything and wins the match even going by type disadvantage. That's why the best ones buck this trend and give us a unique experience, whether it's anytime Charizard gets to fight it out or moments such as this. To my knowledge it's the only time in the series where Ash has never lost a single Pokémon in a gym battle LEGITIMATELY sweeping a Gym Leader! Yeah his whole battle with Wattson was fucking cheap as shit and he REALLY didn't deserve that badge most of all, which is why I'm glad Ash got a rematch where the jolly old gym leader kicked his ass!

It really does fell like Ash planned out this battle against Crasher Wake like an expert. He knew to use Pokémon that had the best type advantages and to use their attributes well against his opponent. He remembers Quagsire is also a Ground-Type and switches Pikachu out when he looks tired after fighting Wake's Gyarados and giving it a VOLT TACKLE TO THE FACE! And it'd thanks to this constant strategy that he beats Crasher Wake with almost no effort except near the end.

Honestly though, the best part of this battle is Ash's Buizel fighting Crasher's Floatzel. We've had examples of a Pokémon fighting it's evolved form before, but here they put in genuine effort not seen since "Electric Shock Showdown". I can truly feel Buizel's energy as he pushes against Floatzel's power, especially when it uses a combo of Bulk Up and Ice Fang! This battle really makes me believe Buizel never needs to evolve as he's got power on his own to prove it unnecessary. No to mention I ADORE CRASHER WAKE! This guy is one of my all-time favorite gym leaders! He just has such a great energy and heart to him that's are to match with his luchador motif and bombastic voice in the dub provided by David Brimmer, a highly underrated voice actor I might add.

Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company.

1001 Animations is from

Regulas314